Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new releases arriving in stores today!
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The Rolling Stones, Live at the El Mocambo (UMe)
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4LP Black Vinyl: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
4LP Neon Vinyl: Rolling Stones Online Shop
The Rolling Stones are bringing their March, 1977 secret shows at Toronto's tiny El Mocambo club to 2-CD, 4-LP black vinyl, 4-LP neon vinyl, and digital formats. Live at the El Mocambo features the Stones' full set from March 5 (the second and final show), plus three bonus tracks from March 4, all newly mixed by Bob Clearmountain. Four of the live performances appeared on the September 1977 release of Love You Live, but this release marks the premiere of a complete El Mocambo set. Read more here.
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Michael Nesmith, And the Hits Just Keep On Comin': 50th Anniversary Edition (7a)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Deep Discount (U.S.)
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Deep Discount (U.S.).
7a celebrates the 50th anniversary of Michael Nesmith's 1972 album - recorded with his longtime collaborator and cosmic partner Orville "Red" Rhodes on pedal steel - with this new deluxe edition available on both CD and vinyl. Four session outtakes have been added to the original album, mirroring the contents of Legacy Recordings' 2018 digital-only expanded edition: "Cantata and Fugue in C&W" (first released in 2001), a unique version of Nesmith standard "Some of Shelly's Blues," and alternate takes of "Keep On" and "Roll with the Flow." These tracks are making their premiere on vinyl. And The Hits Just Keep On Comin' is newly-remastered and includes a booklet featuring both liner notes and previously unpublished photos. The 180-gram vinyl version is pressed on colored vinyl and housed within a gatefold sleeve. Read more here.
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The Muffs, Really Really Happy: Expanded Edition (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Omnivore returns to the discography of The Muffs with this 2-CD expanded edition of the band's 2004 studio album Really Really Happy. And while this reissue is a bittersweet occasion - singer-songwriter-guitarist Kim Shattuck passed away in October 2019 after a courageous battle with ALS - the mood is celebratory as a tribute to Shattuck and The Muffs' rock legacy. The original album, with its taut guitar riffs, bright melodies, and powerful attack, is supplemented with six bonus tracks on CD 1 (three previously unissued) and an entire disc's worth of Shattuck's never-before-released demos. This set crackles with excitement, not to mention tremendous affection from Kim's bandmates Ronnie Barnett and Roy McDonald that translates to the listener. The tracks spring to life in Michael Graves' remastering, and it's all packaged in a six-panel digipak with a 12-page booklet featuring an introduction from Barnett, liner notes from McDonald, and tributes from Anna Waronker, Kevin Sutherland, and Charlotte Caffey. Really, really happy certainly fits the bill.
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Lyle Lovett, 12th of June (Verve) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Arriving one month before the album title, Lyle Lovett's twelfth studio album and first in ten years arrives today on Verve. Featuring original songs and covers of such classics as "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You," "Straighten Up and Fly Right," and "Peel Me a Grape," it's available on CD, LP, and digitally.
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Melissa Errico, Out of the Dark: The Film Noir Project (Ghostlight) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Link TBD / Amazon Canada)
Stage star and recording artist Melissa Errico (My Fair Lady, High Society, Amour) returns with this spellbinding new album capturing the seductive milieu and alluring romance of noir. Errico brings her stylish and expressive tones to such standards as "Laura," "Haunted Heart," and "The Man That Got Away" while introducing a number of new songs bringing the film noir spirit into the present day. With piano, winds, brass, and vibes accompanying Errico's vocals, Out of the Dark is an exquisite, sophisticated, and sensual journey to a musical realm of darkness and light. Available on CD and digitally.
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The Black Keys, Dropout Boogie (Easy Eye Sound/Nonesuch) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)
Blues-rock duo The Black Keys return with this original studio album featuring guests Billy F. Gibbons, Greg Cartwright, and Angelo Petraglia. Available on CD, LP, and digitally.
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Immediately got the Muffs reissue...amazing...the demos CD was on vinyl for the recent RSD...really well done...Kim was such a great original songwriter & it was so sad when we lost her, but thank goodness this reissue is celebratory not somber...the booklet is short but sweet with intro letter to Kim by Ronnie, nice essay by Roy & tribs by Kim's old roommate & both Charlotte Caffey (from the Go-Go's) and Anna Waronker (from That Dog & daughter of Warner's Lenny)...its significance was twofold...first they formed a label in the 00's called Five Foot Two thru Oglio & put the album out originally...and second was Charlotte & Anna are connected personally as their husbands are brothers Steve & Jeff McDonald of cult SoCal punk/powerpop heroes Redd Kross & Muffs drummer Roy McDonald is also RK's drummer, so Charlotte & Anna have always viewed the Muffs as extended family...now the songs, oh those glorious songs...goofy & endearing & tuneful & insightful & fun & original, as only Kim was her whole life...I hadn't heard the album in years, but when I popped on this reissue, man, wow, so good & classic & still fresh...both amazing powerpop like her 60s heroes like the Kinks and tight pop/punk in the best Ramones tradition, but totally original...the 6 bonus tracks on disc 1 were bonus tracks from import versions of the album from Japan & Spain...fave of those is Under the Covers in Jammies, which is so goofy & adorable, powered by what sounds like a grade school recorder!! The final 3 songs are cool too, just too short, maybe a minute each, happy they are there...the demos disc are the vinyl from RSD, all are on disc 1 except for one song that didn't make the cut of the album, and it's a real gem..."Even Now"... Kim's demos are great, as Ronnie said in his letter...one woman band demos, not just her & acoustic guitar...the only other person I can think of who does demos like that and as good as finished recordings but their own thing is Per Gessle, he formerly of Roxette but with Marie gone from cancer, he does his own thing...Kim Shattuck was a genius, a goofy self-deprecating genius, but she really was an original talent truly...timeless & ageless & forever fresh, always waiting & ready to be discovered...now there is only 2 Muffs albums left to get the expanded Omnivore treatment...Alert Today Alive Tomorrow & Whoop Dee Doo...and I wonder if Kim had a vault with loads of unreleased demo recordings...keep em coming Ronnie!!